Saturday, October 28, 2017

Eaton quarter cenury club doctor watch

After much searching and waiting, i have finally managed to find one nice all original condition Eaton quarter century club doctor`s watch by Rolex.

Rolex Prince made for Timothy Eaton department store in Canada. These watches were known as Quarter (1/4) Century Club watches and given as gifts to employees celebrating 25 years of employment with the company. The male employees were offered a wrist or pocket watch, both made by Rolex, while the women were offered a gold Rolex cocktail watch or a diamond ring. This watch is one of the first series of watches ordered by Eaton’s from Rolex, the flared case Rolex Prince model 1490. After this model are the Rolex bubbleback, handwind round shape and automatic round watch.

The watch is modeled in 14 karat yellow gold and with squirrel hallmark and case stampings. Inside the watch is powered by a 15 jewel Rolex calibre 300 that is timed and adjusted to 6 positions. The movement is also marked as a Chronometer and graded as an Extra Prima model within the Rolex hierarchy. This was the pinnacle of Rolex watchmaking at the time. The earliest Quarter Century Prince models were given out in the mid 1930’s and were the same model as this example a reference 1490. Some have speculated that Eatons purchased them in bulk orders and dispensed them as needed. Adding to that theory was the fact that as late as the 1940’s Eatons was still presenting Rolex Princes to their employees.

This watch was presented in 1940. This watch features the original silver plate dial with enamel pattern and lettering spelling out 1/4 CENTURY CLUB at the hour markers. This corporate arrangement is the only example of a re-branded Rolex Prince that is known to exist. The yellow gold case measures 23 mm wide across the narrowest section and where the lugs flare, 26 mm. The case is an elongated 42 mm long.






As usual, I have traded the following watches in order to keep the total quantities of watches down:




No comments:

Problem with signing in

I am facing issues with saving my blog with photos and I cannot seemed to log on using  my ipad. Perhaps, the days have pme to end the blog....